Author: Michael Jindra
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857452061
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous over the years. Whereas in the West death is normally a private and family affair, in Africa funerals are often the central life cycle event, unparalleled in cost and importance, for which families harness vast amounts of resources to host lavish events for multitudes of people with ramifications well beyond the event. Though officials may try to regulate them, the popularity of these events often makes such efforts fruitless, and the elites themselves spend tremendously on funerals. This volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.
Funerals in Africa
Author: Michael Jindra
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857452061
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous over the years. Whereas in the West death is normally a private and family affair, in Africa funerals are often the central life cycle event, unparalleled in cost and importance, for which families harness vast amounts of resources to host lavish events for multitudes of people with ramifications well beyond the event. Though officials may try to regulate them, the popularity of these events often makes such efforts fruitless, and the elites themselves spend tremendously on funerals. This volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857452061
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous over the years. Whereas in the West death is normally a private and family affair, in Africa funerals are often the central life cycle event, unparalleled in cost and importance, for which families harness vast amounts of resources to host lavish events for multitudes of people with ramifications well beyond the event. Though officials may try to regulate them, the popularity of these events often makes such efforts fruitless, and the elites themselves spend tremendously on funerals. This volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.
Funeral Culture
Author: Casey Golomski
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253036488
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Contemporary forms of living and dying in Swaziland cannot be understood apart from the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, according to anthropologist Casey Golomski. In Africa's last absolute monarchy, the story of 15 years of global collaboration in treatment and intervention is also one of ordinary people facing the work of caring for the sick and dying and burying the dead. Golomski's ethnography shows how AIDS posed challenging questions about the value of life, culture, and materiality to drive new forms and practices for funerals. Many of these forms and practicesnewly catered funeral feasts, an expanded market for life insurance, and the kingdom's first crematoriumare now conspicuous across the landscape and culturally disruptive in a highly traditionalist setting. This powerful and original account details how these new matters of death, dying, and funerals have become entrenched in peoples' everyday lives and become part of a quest to create dignity in the wake of a devastating epidemic.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253036488
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Contemporary forms of living and dying in Swaziland cannot be understood apart from the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, according to anthropologist Casey Golomski. In Africa's last absolute monarchy, the story of 15 years of global collaboration in treatment and intervention is also one of ordinary people facing the work of caring for the sick and dying and burying the dead. Golomski's ethnography shows how AIDS posed challenging questions about the value of life, culture, and materiality to drive new forms and practices for funerals. Many of these forms and practicesnewly catered funeral feasts, an expanded market for life insurance, and the kingdom's first crematoriumare now conspicuous across the landscape and culturally disruptive in a highly traditionalist setting. This powerful and original account details how these new matters of death, dying, and funerals have become entrenched in peoples' everyday lives and become part of a quest to create dignity in the wake of a devastating epidemic.
Saturday Is for Funerals
Author: Unity Dow
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674061837
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
In the year 2000 the World Health Organization estimated that 85 percent of fifteen-year-olds in Botswana would eventually die of AIDS. In Saturday Is for Funerals we learn why that won't happen. Unity Dow and Max Essex tell the true story of lives ravaged by AIDSÑof orphans, bereaved parents, and widows; of families who devote most Saturdays to the burial of relatives and friends. We witness the actions of community leaders, medical professionals, research scientists, and educators of all types to see how an unprecedented epidemic of death and destruction is being stopped in its tracks. This book describes how a country responded in a time of crisis. In the true-life stories of loss and quiet heroism, activism and scientific initiatives, we learn of new techniques that dramatically reduce rates of transmission from mother to child, new therapies that can save lives of many infected with AIDS, and intricate knowledge about the spread of HIV, as well as issues of confidentiality, distributive justice, and human rights. The experiences of Botswana offer practical lessons along with the critical element of hope.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674061837
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
In the year 2000 the World Health Organization estimated that 85 percent of fifteen-year-olds in Botswana would eventually die of AIDS. In Saturday Is for Funerals we learn why that won't happen. Unity Dow and Max Essex tell the true story of lives ravaged by AIDSÑof orphans, bereaved parents, and widows; of families who devote most Saturdays to the burial of relatives and friends. We witness the actions of community leaders, medical professionals, research scientists, and educators of all types to see how an unprecedented epidemic of death and destruction is being stopped in its tracks. This book describes how a country responded in a time of crisis. In the true-life stories of loss and quiet heroism, activism and scientific initiatives, we learn of new techniques that dramatically reduce rates of transmission from mother to child, new therapies that can save lives of many infected with AIDS, and intricate knowledge about the spread of HIV, as well as issues of confidentiality, distributive justice, and human rights. The experiences of Botswana offer practical lessons along with the critical element of hope.
The Artfulness of Death in Africa
Author: John Mack
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781789141238
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
If weddings are the most lavish events in many parts of the world, in Sub-Saharan Africa, by contrast, it is funerals. Funeral celebrations can be flamboyant occasions, particularly those honoring prominent people. Artworks of many kinds are created to commemorate the dead from mortuary sculptures and extravagant coffins to elaborate headstones, memorials, monuments, and cenotaphs. This book is a unique survey of the artful nature of funerals in Africa. Drawing on a wide range of historical, anthropological, archaeological, art historical, and literary sources, John Mack charts the full range of African funereal art, highlighting examples from across the continent and from ancient times to today. Featuring abundant illustrations--some of which have never been published before--The Artfulness of Death in Africa is essential reading for those interested in African art, culture, society, and history.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781789141238
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
If weddings are the most lavish events in many parts of the world, in Sub-Saharan Africa, by contrast, it is funerals. Funeral celebrations can be flamboyant occasions, particularly those honoring prominent people. Artworks of many kinds are created to commemorate the dead from mortuary sculptures and extravagant coffins to elaborate headstones, memorials, monuments, and cenotaphs. This book is a unique survey of the artful nature of funerals in Africa. Drawing on a wide range of historical, anthropological, archaeological, art historical, and literary sources, John Mack charts the full range of African funereal art, highlighting examples from across the continent and from ancient times to today. Featuring abundant illustrations--some of which have never been published before--The Artfulness of Death in Africa is essential reading for those interested in African art, culture, society, and history.
To Serve the Living
Author: Suzanne E. Smith
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674036215
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
In the “hush harbors” of the slave quarters, African Americans first used funerals to bury their dead and to plan a path to freedom. Similarly, throughout the long struggle for racial equality in the 20th century, funeral directors aided the cause by honoring the dead while supporting the living. Here is their story.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674036215
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
In the “hush harbors” of the slave quarters, African Americans first used funerals to bury their dead and to plan a path to freedom. Similarly, throughout the long struggle for racial equality in the 20th century, funeral directors aided the cause by honoring the dead while supporting the living. Here is their story.
Women and Social Change in North Africa
Author: Doris H. Gray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110841950X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
A wide-ranging analysis of grass-roots activism, migration, legal, political and religious changes as basis for social transformation.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110841950X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
A wide-ranging analysis of grass-roots activism, migration, legal, political and religious changes as basis for social transformation.
A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die
Author: Gail Rubin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780984596201
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
Rubin provides the information, inspiration, and tools to plan and implement creative, meaningful, and memorable end-of-life rituals for people and pets.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780984596201
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
Rubin provides the information, inspiration, and tools to plan and implement creative, meaningful, and memorable end-of-life rituals for people and pets.
Death's Summer Coat
Author: Brandy Schillace
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681770938
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267
Book Description
Death is something we all confront—it touches our families, our homes, our hearts. And yet we have grown used to denying its existence, treating it as an enemy to be beaten back with medical advances.We are living at a unique point in human history. People are living longer than ever, yet the longer we live, the more taboo and alien our mortality becomes. Yet we, and our loved ones, still remain mortal. People today still struggle with this fact, as we have done throughout our entire history. What led us to this point? What drove us to sanitize death and make it foreign and unfamiliar?Schillace shows how talking about death, and the rituals associated with it, can help provide answers. It also brings us closer together—conversation and community are just as important for living as for dying. Some of the stories are strikingly unfamiliar; others are far more familiar than you might suppose. But all reveal much about the present—and about ourselves.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681770938
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267
Book Description
Death is something we all confront—it touches our families, our homes, our hearts. And yet we have grown used to denying its existence, treating it as an enemy to be beaten back with medical advances.We are living at a unique point in human history. People are living longer than ever, yet the longer we live, the more taboo and alien our mortality becomes. Yet we, and our loved ones, still remain mortal. People today still struggle with this fact, as we have done throughout our entire history. What led us to this point? What drove us to sanitize death and make it foreign and unfamiliar?Schillace shows how talking about death, and the rituals associated with it, can help provide answers. It also brings us closer together—conversation and community are just as important for living as for dying. Some of the stories are strikingly unfamiliar; others are far more familiar than you might suppose. But all reveal much about the present—and about ourselves.
In My Time of Dying
Author: John Parker
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691271356
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Book Description
"Why do people die and where do they go when they are dead? How should the dead be buried and mourned in order to ensure that they continue to work for the benefit of the living? How have perceptions and experiences of death and the ends of life changed over the centuries? In My Time of Dying considers these questions from the perspective of African history. In what is the first history of death in Africa, John Parker examines mortuary culture and the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead over a four-hundred year period. Focusing anecdotally on West Africa but with a comparative awareness of comparable practices throughout the continent, Parker highlights how Africans developed the world's most vibrant and recognizable cultures of death"--
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691271356
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Book Description
"Why do people die and where do they go when they are dead? How should the dead be buried and mourned in order to ensure that they continue to work for the benefit of the living? How have perceptions and experiences of death and the ends of life changed over the centuries? In My Time of Dying considers these questions from the perspective of African history. In what is the first history of death in Africa, John Parker examines mortuary culture and the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead over a four-hundred year period. Focusing anecdotally on West Africa but with a comparative awareness of comparable practices throughout the continent, Parker highlights how Africans developed the world's most vibrant and recognizable cultures of death"--
Death Across Cultures
Author: Helaine Selin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030188264
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Book Description
Death Across Cultures: Death and Dying in Non-Western Cultures, explores death practices and beliefs, before and after death, around the non-Western world. It includes chapters on countries in Africa, Asia, South America, as well as indigenous people in Australia and North America. These chapters address changes in death rituals and beliefs, medicalization and the industry of death, and the different ways cultures mediate the impacts of modernity. Comparative studies with the west and among countries are included. This book brings together global research conducted by anthropologists, social scientists and scholars who work closely with individuals from the cultures they are writing about.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030188264
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Book Description
Death Across Cultures: Death and Dying in Non-Western Cultures, explores death practices and beliefs, before and after death, around the non-Western world. It includes chapters on countries in Africa, Asia, South America, as well as indigenous people in Australia and North America. These chapters address changes in death rituals and beliefs, medicalization and the industry of death, and the different ways cultures mediate the impacts of modernity. Comparative studies with the west and among countries are included. This book brings together global research conducted by anthropologists, social scientists and scholars who work closely with individuals from the cultures they are writing about.